A Study On Angels, Part 2
As I said in a previous post, I received a prophet prayer that I’m pulling from for topics of study. The words Shield and Buckler was touched upon and in my last post I started looking at Angels.
What is an angel?
In my last post, we looked at a few words that are translated as angel in the Bible: malak, abbir, anggelos and archanggelos. These words imply that angels are divine beings that serve God as messengers or agents that do His will. They look like humans, but are distinctly mighty, divine and lordly. Angels have corporal bodies that can sit, eat, drink, wrestle, conjugate and live immortally. They act as guardians, servants, ministers, destroyers, warriors and of course, messengers. Angels are classified by hierarchies and kinds. For example there are Archangels, chiefs among angels, and there are angels of God and angels of the satan. Some angels are named, and some assigned to specific details, such as people, seats of rulership on earth, or geographical domains.
So it seems that all angels are divine beings, but not all divine beings are angels. There is another word(s) in the bible that sometimes gets translated as angels, carry a lot of ambiguity and debate with it. That is elohim and bene elohim; God, gods and sons of God.
What is a god?
The word God or god, is not a name, but a title. Nearly every religion on earth has their God or gods. There is nothing remarkable or distinguishable in the word except it means a divine being, a deity. In the Hebrew Bible the word elohim refers to the God of the Israelites but it also refers to the gods of the nations. A title. The God of Israel reveals his true name to his people through Moses before he delivers them out of slavery and into the land he prepares for them; his personal name is Yahweh. No longer a title but a personal being. However, the people thought his name to be too special to use so they continue to use the title God, or they use The Name as his name, or Lord instead.
As for the gods of the nations, the people of the ancient world absolutely believed their local deities to be their personal God, and they too had their own personal names. Marduk, Ba’al, Ashterah, El, Anu, Ra and Dagon to name only a few. Again, elohim (God/gods) is a title.
So what is an elohim? Gods were considered the cosmic and spiritual rulers, authorities, powers, and creators of a people group, their land and society. They were believed to be in control of weather, fertility, health, crops, herds, water sources, blessing and curses, as well as supernatural events and the tide of battle. Every region had their own versions or distinct pantheon of gods to which they were loyal, in order to live in blessing and prosperity.
The Bible doesn’t refute the existence of the gods of the nations, rather it refutes the legitimacy of their claims that they are supreme powers, or that they should receive credit as Creator or Almighty One. Yahweh alone stands as Preeminant, Ancient of Days, Creator God. Yahweh claims to be God of gods, King of kings, Lord of lords. That is what makes him HOLY. None can stand beside him in prominence, he is above all.
Let’s look deeper at the word elohim with STRONG’S LEXICON…
elohim: God, gods, divine beings, judges (G2316 Theos)
Original Word: אֱלהִים
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: elohiym
Pronunciation: eh-lo-HEEM
Phonetic Spelling: (el-o-heem')
Definition: God, gods, divine beings, judges
Meaning: gods, the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative
Word Origin: Derived from the root אֵל (El), meaning "god" or "power."
Corresponding Greek Entries: - G2316 (Theos): The Greek equivalent used in the New Testament to refer to God.
Usage: Elohim is a plural noun that is most commonly used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the one true God, Yahweh, emphasizing His majesty and power. Despite its plural form, it is often used with singular verbs and adjectives when referring to the God of Israel, indicating a plural of majesty or intensity rather than number. Elohim can also refer to gods of other nations, divine beings, or even human judges, depending on the context.
According to NAS Exhaustive Concordance…
Word Origin
pl. of eloah (God, god; a diety, the diety)
prol. from el (God, god, mighty one, Almighty) Also, the name of the Canaanite and Ugarit diety and Father of the Gods, El. Equivalent to the Syrian god Dagon, the Mesopotamian gods Anu and Enlil, the Greek god Cronus, and the Roman god Saturn.
El is the root of elohim, also the name of a pagan god.
The Canaanite’s worship El as a distant and remote “father” god who gave them their favored god to worship, his son, Ba’a'l. Study reveals this is a twisting of the story Yahweh presents to his people. Yahweh himself is God as Cosmic Father and he also is revealed as a Son in human form of Jesus the Messiah, but the prototype of “Son” is Adam, then Israel, then David and so forth. Yahweh and Jesus, His WORD made flesh, along with the Holy Spirit, is elohim, plural yet One. Father, Son and Spirit. The gods of the nations riff off of him. They present their people with an understanding of God the Father or God the Mother, along with God the Sons or Daughters, separating and dividing them without unity. This is your god of water, that is your god of wind, this is your god of power, this is your god of birth…They carve up the truth of God among themselves to receive worship and glory. They deceive the nations for fealty, power and praise.
So the gods of the nations were/are real?
Deuteronomy 10:17 tells us “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God…” and would he tells us that if gods weren’t real?
2 Corinthian 4:4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Even the Apostle Paul tells us that there is actively a lowercase god in power and at work in the world today.
YES! The gods were real and they were appointed with authority by Yahweh for a distinct time, over a distinct region, and a distinct people, for a distinct purpose. They in truth are not god, rather, they are sons of God.
Psalm 32:7Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations;ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the bordersa of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.b 9But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
Here we see God divvies up the nations as they went out from the Valley of Shinar, when the Lord confused their language at Babel and dispersed mankind out from there and into world. He establishes people groups as nations, with geographical borders, and allocates a son of God, or spiritual being, as their shepherds. Yahweh took for himself a people that weren’t a people, a line from Abram and Sarai, a barren couple near death in old age.
Sons of God
Does this phrase mean that Yahweh God, like the nations deities, bore sons?
Luke 3:38 “the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”
In the Bible, God refers to sons, daughters and children in terms of heirs of his kingdom. He refers to them as belonging to him, as his to protect and provide for. Luke tells us that Adam (humanity) is considered God’s son. We all know Jesus is called God’s son. We are all God’s children just for the sheer fact that he created us, he gave us his very spark of life, his very breathe so we could live. Humans are all amphibians as the writer John Eldridge says, because we are made for earth and heaven, we are physical beings and spiritual beings. We belong in two places.
So what of these sons of God that the nations inherited from Yahweh? Where else are these sons of God mentioned in the Bible? What can we glean from other passages about them?
Genesis 6:2,1When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide ina man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4The Nephilimb were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
they took (same language of eve taking from the tree)
they have emotion and physical feelings such as desire and lust
they could conjugate with human women to produce children
they were physical beings with anatomy and DNA compatible to humanity
Job 1:6,6Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satanb also came among them. 7The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
they convene together with God
divine council
Satan, the enemy or adversary, title distinctly among them
access earth and heaven
given limits by God
Psalm 82:6,1God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6I said, “You are gods (’ĕ·lō·hîm), sons of the Most High (ū·ḇə·nê ‘el·yō·wn), all of you; 7nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”
divine council IS a congregation of gods
Intented to be just and impartial judges, protecting and guarding the weak, the orphan, and poor
gods equated to sons of Most High
princes
judged by God for unjust rule- sentenced with death and a fall
Job 38:7,4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
conflated with morning stars
emotional beings of joy and praise
predate the creation and ordering of Earth and humanity
Let’s summarize the sons of God.
Yahweh God creates the Universe and the Stars/Hosts of heaven include spiritual beings.
Some spiritual beings are hierarchically greater than others in position of authority with “sonship” these are “princes” known as sons of God.
Princes have principalities in the Cosmos. Domains of authority, powers and elemental things. (Gal 4:3,9) This explains the concept of gods of nations having powers over elements like fire, storms, earth, etc. God cooperates with his sons because he prefers to participate with his children in creation.
God creates humanity as children with their own domain of authority.
Humanity allies with a son of God, the Serpent or satan, rather than God himself. Now a lesser god has some kind of authority on Earth given by Adam through sin.
Heavenly sons of God abandon their posts to take women as wives in an act of rebellion to God and incur judgment (Jude1:6) referred to as angels as well.
After the flood, God assigns nations to the sons of God to rule as princes with justice and equity, to perhaps turn humanity continually back to Yahweh. God claims Israel.
the sons of God, conflate themselves with God and deceive the nations with corruption, perversion and defilement, and lead lead them away from Yahweh, gaining power and authority through their worship and sacrifices.
God himself must come as a human to regain authority on earth on behalf of humanity and dethrone and disarm the gods of the nations so that all the earth might return to Yahweh and participate with him as intended. That Jesus, an ideal son of God (only begotten) acts as the sons of God were supposed to act. Jesus accomplished what all the sons of God (both human and divine) failed to accomplish, unifying all creation in loyalty to the Father, mending not only the cosmos but the relationship between the two races of children.
At the end of the age, the sons of God who hate God and hate humanity are destroyed in the lake of fire which was prepared for them. The Elemental powers of death and grave, anti-messiah and anti-God natures, and all who would wield them are destroyed.
Until then, all things are being made subject to God in Christ (1 Cor 15:25-28)
The Angels of John’s Revelation will get their own post See Part 3.